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Musical Theatre History, 2004.
An analysis of the history of musical theatre in the United States.
1,158 words (approx. 4.6 pages), 2 sources, MLA, AU$ 47.95
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Abstract
This paper briefly looks at the history of American musical theater traced back to the 18th century. It looks at various types of musical theatre pieces, such as rock musicals, revivals, classics, and others.
From the Paper
"In the 1790?s, theaters in New York City offered much more musical entertainments than mainstream theater drama. During this time, musical performances were flourishing in many other cities and commonly took place in the theater. This gave way to a the beginnings of a variety of entertainment including puppet shows, ballad operas, circuses, dances, all of which had some type of musical involvement."
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"The Glass Menagerie", 2004.
A review of the play, "The Glass Menagerie", by Tennessee Williams.
2,544 words (approx. 10.2 pages), 4 sources, MLA, AU$ 94.95
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Abstract
This paper examines how Tennessee Williams's 1944 classic, ?The Glass Menagerie?, can be considered a study in multiple-level metaphors. It attempts to demonstrate how a collection of glass ornaments is an extrinsic comparison between the lives of the characters in the play, the family dynamic shown in the play, and also the interplay between the audience, who are merely passive observers, and the actors. It looks at how, in ?The Glass Menagerie,? we trace a few slices in the lives of three individuals with different characters and yet who share the commonality of fragility; this tenuous thread weaves around the characters and can be easily shattered from within and from the outside.
From the Paper
"The Glass Menagerie is about several slices in the lives of a family that lives in a rundown apartment in St. Louis. The family consists of an overbearing but concerned mother, Amanda Wingfield; a son, Tom, who is the sole breadwinner of the family; and, his sister Laura, who is possessed of a fragile physical constitution and an even fragile psyche. It is not difficult to imagine that the lives of this family resemble fragile pieces of glass arranged in a menagerie. The family is poor. The father abandoned the family several years ago and fled to Mexico. His only correspondence from Mexico was a postcard that had no return address."
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"Six Characters in Search of an Author", 2004.
A Freudian analysis of the play, "Six Characters in Search of an Author", by Luigi Pirandello.
718 words (approx. 2.9 pages), 2 sources, MLA, AU$ 31.95
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Abstract
This paper examines how Luigi Pirandello's play, "Six Characters in Search of an Author", is a representation of reality as opposed to the presentation of reality via drama. It looks at how it can also be interpreted as a division of the conscious mind from reality, or what Freud called ?doubling?, since the characters in the play are separated into actors and the characters they are to play. In particular, it attempts to show how the relationship between the author's characters and the actors who attempt to play the characters can be understood in terms of Freud?s theory of the uncanny.
From the Paper
"In the play, six characters appear at a rehearsal and are looking for a way to have their story told. Their goal is to have actors play the parts they represent in the story as yet completed. It is a paradoxical situation in which the actors are imitating the characters as they ?perform? the circumstances of their lives. The conflict is made manifest in the discussions between the father and the producer as to what constitutes reality. The actors are ?real? because they are living humans. The characters are ?fictitious forms? of consciousness. From the perspective of the characters, the actors are comical in their attempts to recreate what the character has created. The actor is both ?real? and an imitation while the characters are a representation presented to the world as ?real? because of the reality of their stories."
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Postmodernism in Theater, 2004.
A review of different forms of theater in the Western world and how theater has evolved as an art over the past few centuries.
1,724 words (approx. 6.9 pages), 2 sources, MLA, AU$ 67.95
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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to see how the society has changed in retrospect to the period from modernism to postmodernism, creating awareness to different perspectives on analysis in today's world. It attempts to show how the best way this can be understood is through the developments in the world of theater and how the theater functions as an artifact and a metaphor of the times.
Outline
Different Forms of Theater
Postmodern Theater
Actors and Audiences
Robert Wilson
Peter Brook
From the Paper
"The modern theater is characterized by a narrative plot where the actors play out roles of everyday people who tell a story based on life's tragedies and conflicts, with the unfolding tragedy or comedy developing at a beginning and ending with the last act of the play. The aim of these plays is to stretch the audience's comprehension of existing reality, to being forward the truth that is basically obscured. Even though the results of the actors' behaviors are mostly tragic. The audience becomes emotionally aroused with the characters of the play. This is seen in reactions to Willy Loman in the play Death of a Salesman and in Blanche DuBois play, A Streetcar Named Desire."
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Philip Hayes Dean's "The Sty of the Blind Pig" (1971), 2004.
This paper analyzes Philip Hayes Dean's play, ?The Sty of the Blind Pig? (1971), which is about an African-American family transplanted to Chicago in the 1950s as the civil rights movement was beginning in the South.
1,085 words (approx. 4.3 pages), 0 sources, AU$ 45.95
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Abstract
This paper explains that, although the audience is cognizant that social change is on the horizon, the characters themselves, at first ,are only concerned with their immediate, personal changes and struggles. The author points out that the antagonist of the play is the character?s collective lack of movement and motion: Jordan is ?stuck? in his own way, in a quest for a woman long lost; Weedy and Alberta are ?stuck? in their apartment; and Uncle Doc is mired in a life of gambling. The paper determines that the three main members of the family all represent different, but ineffective, pre-civil rights ways of black Americans to cope with societal and institutionalized racism: religion in the form of Weedy; self-sacrifice and self-denial in the form of Alberta; and a recourse to get-rich-quick schemes and the drug of gambling in the form of Uncle Doc.
From the Paper
"Weedy?s brother, Alberta?s Uncle Doc, often visits both women. Doc is a gambler and a bad one at that, but his humor and animation seem to bring life to the room, even though he walks in a shuffling, difficult fashion. He seems to fill the room even though the audience knows his designs upon the two women are usually purely financial in nature, in a valiant and quixotic attempt, as amongst all down-on-his-luck gamblers, to get more money to waste in dubious ventures."
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?Blood Wedding?, 2004.
A review of the play, ?Blood Wedding?, by F.G. Lorca.
706 words (approx. 2.8 pages), 0 sources, MLA, AU$ 31.95
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Abstract
This paper examines Lorca?s "Blood Wedding", a play that appears, at first, to be based on a fairly straightforward plot of two lovers who defy all social and moral codes of honor by allowing their passion to get the better of them. It looks at how Lorca obviously had quite a different message in mind, given his rather sudden introduction of surreal elements in the last act, and how the symbolism inherent in the young woodcutter as the moon and the Beggar Woman as Death reveals that Lorca was really making a strong comment about the fact that ultimately all human beings meet justice at the hands of Fate.
From the Paper
"Lorca is obviously a master of his craft given the manner in which he artfully sets up his audience to believe that the lovers? fortunes will be dictated by the traditions and demanding laws of honor prevalent in the Spanish society of the time. This is evident in the way he develops the themes of knives, blood, nature and death throughout the play, including his very choice of the title Blood Wedding. In fact, the play begins on an ominous note with the bridegroom?s mother exclaiming, ?Knives, knives./ Cursed be all knives, and the scoundrel who invented them.? (Lorca, p. 34) But perhaps the more ominous note lies in Lorca?s portrayal of the bridegroom?s mother as a woman who has been unable to make peace with the death of her husband and other son in an old family feud. "
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The Role of the Chorus in Greek Plays, 2004.
Looks at the role of the chorus in Euripides's play, "Medea", and Aeschylus's play, "Agamemnon".
1,169 words (approx. 4.7 pages), 4 sources, MLA, AU$ 49.95
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Abstract
This paper explains how the chorus in the plays, "Medea" and "Agamemnon", enhance the audience's experience as they watch the plays and contemplate their opinions of the actual character and the character as reflected by the chorus.
From the Paper
"Euripides play, Medea, has created astonishing results since the time it was written, 2400 years back and was first performed in 431 BC. The play originates from the ancient myths of Jason and Medea, while it, ?investigates the psychology of revenge and betrayal?.( Euripides? Medea ?ICFI?, reviewed by: Stephen Griffiths http://www.wsws.org/arts/1998/aug1998/med-a04.shtml ). Euripide, though a male writer has been able to view a females? mind emerging with power and great intensity. He was the first Athenian to use the chorus as a commentator, in order to interpret human sufferings without the wisdoms of the gods. Parallel to Medea, Aeschylus? Agamemnon narrates a similar myth of Agamemnon and his queen, Clytemnestra in a play, which was written in Greek in the fifth century B.C. Aeschylus was known to be the first playwright and the father of Western Drama."
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Sartre, 2004.
Examines the changes in the literary and artistic scene in France from before WWI to after WWII, with an emphasis on the works of Jean-Paul Sartre.
2,811 words (approx. 11.2 pages), 5 sources, MLA, AU$ 101.95
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Abstract
This paper details the evolution of French artistic and literary expression from before WWI to after WWII. Dadaism, Surrealism, Absurdism, and many of the famous writers of those periods are examined. The paper focuses on the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and looks at influences on his writing, as well as his impact on the Absurdist movement. The paper also analyzes some of Sartre's more famous plays and discusses his philosophy.
From the Paper
"There was a brief period of economic prosperity and progress in France, called the belle ?poque (beautiful epoch) before World War I in the early years of the 20th century and right before the wave of pessimism began in the 1920s (Cosper 2004). At this time, inventions like the telephone, the automobile, the airplane and the cinema refreshed modern life. Literature turned away from old styles, such as naturalism, and into the newer and more exciting forms, like cubism and bold experiments by Apollinaire. Other playwrights followed the lead of Apollinaire and introduced stage innovations, among them, Alfred Jarry with his extravagant farce in Ubu Roi in 1896 and Ubu King in 1951 and Paul Claudel. Alain-Fournier?s novel, ?The Wanderer,? denied the limitations realists and naturalists placed on the human imagination and philosopher Henri Bergson proposed the naturalist view that human destiny was predetermined and that people had freewill and unlimited creative energy (Cosper)."
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Jean Paul Sartre?s ?No Exit? (?Hois Clos?), 2004.
This paper discusses Jean Paul Sartre and his contemporary masterpiece, ?No Exit? (Hois Clos), first produced on stage in 1944.
2,815 words (approx. 11.3 pages), 7 sources, MLA, AU$ 101.95
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Abstract
This paper relates that the existentialist plays of Sartre and his contemporary, Albert Camus, had a big impact on European and American theater as vehicles for the presentation and expression of existential ideas and beliefs. The author points out that Sartre?s ?No Exit?, as existentialist theater, was a new perspective for audiences because, previously, theater had grown out of a surrealist tradition, led by writers like Jean Cocteau. The paper relates that there are many adaptations of ?No Exit?, but they all use Sartre?s attitudes in their presentation of the play?s relationships, language, indifference, desire, sadism, masochism, love, and hate.
From the Paper
"The host of sufferings that evolved from World War II also led to the formation of a new ideology that affected the theater of entertainment at that time (Lein). A growing dissatisfaction over superficial entertainment could not be denied or stifled any more, along with the increasing rejection of the criteria of pure art in any field of the time. It was simply that the shattering effects of war bore on French complacency, hence a change of popular taste into or preference for serious entertainment, which satisfied audiences as artistic, useful and meaningful (Lein). Sarter?s and Camus? existentialist theater was that literary theater that was grounded both on ideology and philosophy and, at the same time, responsive to the honest yearnings of a new public."
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19th Century American Theater, 2004.
Discusses the history of theater in America in the 19th century.
2,020 words (approx. 8.1 pages), 7 sources, MLA, AU$ 77.95
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Abstract
By the mid-19th century, theater in the United States had undergone a dramatic transformation. Theater became enormously popular and attracted a more genteel and wealthy audience. The paper shows how plays by American writers began to showcase social concerns, and actors and actresses enjoyed a new-found status as respected members of society. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" became one of the most popular plays of the time and typified American theater's new focus on social conditions. The paper shows that the last half of the 19th century marked significant changes in American theater. These changes were partially spurred by the large population growth in East Coast cities. As America grew, the number of theaters increased. Also as America's leisure time increased and wages increased, Americans looked to the theater for entertainment. The paper explains that improvements in transportation allowed actors and actresses to tour parts of America that had never had professional theaters, and the result was an explosion in the popularity of the theater.
From the Paper
"The historical accuracy of Uncle Tom's cabin was also indicative of the move toward the historical accuracy of sets, costumes, and dialects seen in 19th century theater (Robinson). The play is a 'melodrama', or simply a play with music, allowing American audiences all over the country exposure to the music of the Negro spiritual, which contained a complex mixture of dialect and music that depicted black culture of the time. In ACT II, Scene 4, Topsy sings 'Oh, I'se So Wicked', a song that characterized the life and dialect of southern slaves, and depicted the degradation of slaves."
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"Death of a Salesman", 2004.
A critical analysis of Arthur Miller's classic, "Death of a Salesman".
971 words (approx. 3.9 pages), 1 source, MLA, AU$ 41.95
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Abstract
This paper looks at Arthur Miller's American masterpiece, "Death of a Salesman", which was first presented on the stage in New York City in 1949. The writer shows how the play is a successful literary attempt at blending the themes of social and personal tragedy within the same dramatic framework. By contrast, the writer focuses on the character of Willy Loman, which shows false values sustained by almost every publicity agency in the national life of the U.S.
From the Paper
"The character of Willy Loman, the themes of social and personal tragedy, and the overall commonality found within Miller?s play are prime territories for further exploration through the use of psychological criticism and literary deconstruction. In the realm of psychology, Willy Loman?s accomplishments and sources of pleasure appear to be simple and straight-forward, yet they do provide an excellent psychological foundation on his life, due to leading a very average existence as a traveling salesman which he believes will enable himself and his family to attain wealth and comfort."
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Concepts in Tragedy, 2004.
A comparative analysis of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles.
950 words (approx. 3.8 pages), 2 sources, MLA, AU$ 40.95
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Abstract
This paper analyzes the plays, "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare and "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles. Specifically, it quotes passages that show the fatal mistakes of Hamlet and Oedipus and explains why you would have compassion or condemnation for it. It looks at how both plays illustrate tragic heroes at their best and how both plays illustrate how character flaws can lead to the downfall of everyday men who give in to their flaws rather than overcome them.
From the Paper
"In "Oedipus," the same rule of the tragic hero applies, it is one of the most enduring tragedies of all time, and many believe it is the model for all tragedies that came after it. Oedipus suffers from a tragic flaw that is his undoing, too. Oedipus is rash and impetuous, and he often acts before he thinks, and others see this too. The prophet says, "That's your truth? Hear mine: I say honor the curse your own mouth spoke. From today, don't you speak to me, or to your people here. You are the plague. You ruin your own land" (Sophocles, ). Oedipus' tragic flaw is his rashness, such as when he kills his father on the road, but he is also immensely prideful, and this character flaw also adds to his downfall."
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Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry, 2004.
Biographical account of Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry.
2,685 words (approx. 10.7 pages), 8 sources, MLA, AU$ 97.95
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Abstract
This paper provides a biography of actresses, Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry, as well as a description of their characters and personalities. The paper goes on to discuss the typical image held of female actresses during the Victorian era and the origin, evolution, and impact of the pin-up, as well as how actresses of the Victorian era manipulated the photographic images to their advantage.
From the Paper
"Through the use of visual imagery to promote their theatrical identities, female performers in the mid-19th century shifted these personae from the relative isolation of the stage to mass media and popular culture. Both the burlesque tradition and the photographic ?pin-up? originated in this period - and the pin-up genre was utilized and manipulated by actresses in the realm of the burlesque. As representations of female performers who explored pointedly sexual roles (both on- and offstage) between a binary cultural construction, many of these early pin-ups can be read as a parallel to and inspiration for some of the more transgressive and unabashedly feminist uses and readings of the genre today."
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Serbian Culture, 2004.
Presents a history and description of Serbian culture, focusing on theater and entertainment.
1,335 words (approx. 5.3 pages), 2 sources, MLA, AU$ 54.95
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Abstract
This paper presents some information of the culture of Serbia. The paper explains that Serbian theater is more than eight centuries old, beginning and continuing throughout the middle ages, to modern times. The first modern Serbian play was the school drama entitled "Traedokomedija", written by Manuil Kozacinski in the late 1600's. The paper also looks at the work of some of the more well-known Serbian playwrights.
From the Paper
"At the end of the nineteenth century, the influence of French theatre strengthened. Before the World War I, this was the influence of Comedie-Francaise and Paris Boulevard theatres, rather than new theatre trends in France. Recent styles of European dramaturgy and theatre (Naturalism, Symbolism, Expressionism) - and not only French - were sensed in Serbian dramaturgy and theatre. Borisav Stankovic introduced new sensitivity and new poetic tones in the Realist approach into the already worn-out genre of popular folk plays "with singing", with his work Kostana (first performed in 1900), which has a cult following among Serbian theatres and audiences."
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"Endgame?, 2004.
An analysis of the themes and style of the play, ?Endgame?, by Samuel Beckett.
1,001 words (approx. 4.0 pages), 2 sources, MLA, AU$ 43.95
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Abstract
This paper examines the play, ?Endgame?, by Samuel Beckett, which is about the pain and struggle that human relationships endure when founded in pain and human suffering. It looks at how the use of his play to illustrate the decay of one era and the fight against another is not unusual in the literary world and how the underlying theme that brings this play to greatness is the use of Hamm?s decaying body, while his mind stays presumably intact and intellectually sound. It also demonstrates how the pain and anger that accompanies such situations illustrates the pain of moving between Modernism and Romanticism.
From the Paper
"The character of Hamm provides many examples of the fight against Romanticism by Modernism. Hamm shows anger and disgust for the two which is the way of Modernism against Romanticism. If one has a difficult time exploring the theme of Modernism as it is illustrated through the relationship between Hamm and Nagg and Nell one can view it as a teen fighting against a parent. As teens grow older and start becoming young adults of their own they naturally tend to fight against the parents who have raised them. This path is taken for the purpose of the teen eventually emerging as a self propelled and capable adult who still uses certain elements that the parents have provided along the way."
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"Fences" and "Death of a Salesman", 2004.
A comparison of August Wilson's play, "Fences", and Arthur Miller's play, "Death of a Salesman".
1,358 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 4 sources, MLA, AU$ 55.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses how there are likely as many similarities between these two plays as there are dramatic differences. It explains that both are extremely well-written, both allow the audience to peek into the living rooms and lives of interesting people, and both also put a microscope on society and allow the audience to examine the real characters that make America what it is. This paper compares and contrasts these two plays.
From the Paper
"Fences, which depicts the African-American family experience of the late 1950s, just prior to the social and civil rights explosions of the 1960s, is in a way the balancing act on the other side of the American teeter-totter from Salesman, a story of the middle class American Caucasian experience of the late 1940s. Characters in both fictional families are seen in their realistic settings, and are believable. Death of a Salesman of course is a far more well-known play, indeed an internationally renowned play, having initially run on Broadway for 742 performances, opening in February, 1949, and winning the Pulitzer Prize, plus the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best play of the season. Miller?s play (directed by the playwright himself) has also been presented in France, Germany, Australia, Russia, England, China ? and 17 million viewers tuned in to its TV production by CBS in 1966 (starring Lee J. Cobb as Willy); topping that were the 25 million in the TV audience in CBS?s 1985 production starring Dustin Hoffman (as Willy), Kate Reid, and John Malkovich."
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